In the year 2005, there were over 750 police pursuits in the city of Los Angeles alone. In the state of California, in that same year, there were over 7,000 police pursuits. No less than three deaths, in the city of Los Angeles alone, can be attributed to those who would run from the police, recklessly endangering the lives and property of American citizens. Unfortunately, law enforcement officials have very limited resources in dealing with this problem. Solutions given to agencies thus far are only effective given a very specific set of circumstances. In addition, presently, agencies across the United States have begun to tie the hands of Law Enforcement personnel by instituting “no pursuit” policies. Although “no pursuit” policies may be the safest alternative, this is only true due to the fact that a means by which to deal with the problem does not exist.
Every single United States citizen pays for the rise in police pursuit. Studies show that damage from crashes associated with police pursuit is rarely limited to less than five figures. When you consider the fact that the acting vehicle, the police vehicles, and often times bystander vehicles are damaged, it is not hard to understand why damage can run in excess of $100,000 per incident. This cost is passed on to citizens through higher insurance rates.
Tragedy often times follows high-speed pursuit. The fact is, that innocent people die every year. Mothers and fathers, children and elderly, all walks of life, all across America, people are dying because a tool does not exist that allows police to stop a high-speed pursuit before it begins. No solution presently exists that allows the police, from within the safety of their vehicle, to disable a fleeing vehicle, and stop a pursuit.
Devices presently in use include U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,293 in which a device is thrown, by hand, across the roadway into the path of an oncoming pursued vehicle in order to deflate the tires. U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,832 describes a device that is used in the same manner as the previously listed device but differs in that the device itself is wider upon deployment and has a different type of spike. Although presently not in use, U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,205 describes a mobile device which when deployed is said to disable vehicle tires. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,849 describes a device meant to be used from within a police vehicle at speed. Devices described on television programs and magazines have included electronic remote controlled vehicles, which are said to have the ability to shut down a vehicle's computer, thus disabling said vehicle when remote controlled vehicle is driven under vehicle pursued. Scientific magazines have suggested that electromagnetic pulse may be used in the future.
Groen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,293 describes a device in which the police must know where the fleeing suspect is going and get there ahead of them, get out of the car and deploy said device across the roadway by hand. Similarly, Kilgrew U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,832 describes a device which must be deployed by hand across the roadway. These devices unfortunately, put the police officer in harm's way as they make it necessary for the police to exit their vehicle and stand next to the road to deploy their device. Devices such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,205 fail to deal with the fact that pursuits take place on every type of roadway, and that any uneven surface would damage the device described to the point it would be rendered useless and therefore necessitate costly repairs. Lowrie, U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,475 describes a device that necessitates police pulling in front of the pursued vehicle to deploy the device. Police are unwilling to do this, given the possibility that the suspect may have a weapon. Being in front of a suspect with a weapon is too dangerous for the police to even consider this course of action. The tethering of the described device provides for rapid deceleration of said device and therefore must be timed perfectly in order to be effective. In addition, the best possible use of the aforementioned device is its use when the police car is not moving.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a completely mobile means for vehicle disablement.
It is another object of the invention to provide for safe deployment of a vehicle disablement device by allowing deployment from within the police or operator vehicle.
It is another object of the invention to provide a vehicle disablement device that automatically retracts.
It is another object of the invention to provide a means for multiple deployments.
It is another object of the invention to provide a device that does not decelerate upon deployment.
It is another object of the invention to provide an engineered weak point and flexible joint by which the spike strip is attached to the device so as to prevent damage.
It is another object of the invention to provide a means for quick spike strip replacement without the aid of tools.
It is another object of the invention to provide a device that can be used in the blind spot of the pursued vehicle increasing officer safety.
It is another object of the invention to provide a device which can be deployed during a traffic stop to prevent suspect vehicle from leaving the scene.
It is another object of the invention to provide a maintained switch enabling deployment of a device without operator maintaining pressure on deployment switch.
It is another object of the invention to provide an on-board tool for vehicle disablement.
It is another object of the invention to provide for left and right side deployment.